Comparison

The Elements by Theodore Gray vs CHEMIST by THIX

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

The Elements by Theodore Gray

Explore the building blocks of the universe with this interactive guide to the periodic table. Discover beautifully photographed elements, fascinating stories, and detailed 3D models of over 500 objects, all presented in multiple languages.

Highlights
  • Living periodic table interface
  • Rotating 3D element samples
  • Detailed 3D object models
  • Pinch-zoom and 3D stereo viewing
  • Multilingual support
  • Fascinating stories and facts
Features
Read full description

From Theodore Gray comes a beautifully produced app introducing and educating users on the elements of the periodic table and how they combine to form the world around us. The Elements is a rich and engaging love story, told in words and pictures - allowing you to experience the beauty and fascination of the building blocks of our universe in a way you've never seen before. Start off on a living periodic table where every element is shown with a smoothly rotating sample. To read about gold, tap the gold nugget. Immediately you see the sample filling the screen, photographed to razor sharpness and rotating around a complete circle in front of your eyes. Enjoy the extensive array of facts and figures. Next find a fascinating story about the element, surrounded by carefully photographed objects representing it. Every one of these objects, well over 500 in total, is a freely rotatable, live object that you can examine from all sides and pinch zoom to see in unprecedented detail. Touch the element name at the top of the page and you can see that element’s name in over a dozen different languages. Choose one and you’ll find that the entire book, stories, captions and all, switches to that language: The Elements includes both the full English original text and over a dozen full translations. Pinch-zoom or tap any object to bring it up full screen, where you can split into a pair of stereo 3D images, allowing you to see all 500 objects pop off the screen in 3D, and you can spin the objects, in 3D, with the touch of a finger. This book will show everyone there’s a lot more to the periodic table than a bunch of numbers and letters. Features include: • Beautifully composed pages for every Element in the periodic table • Fun stories and fascinating facts • All objects pinch-zoom with amazing detail and rotate in 3D • Engaging introduction explaining the structure of the periodic table • Engaging introduction explaining the structure of the periodic table • Fully translated into English, Catalan, Croatian, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish ------------ Reviews: “The iPad’s splendor and power may be best shown by The Elements... it’s not like any ebook you’ve seen. The periodic table of elements comes to life.” – USA Today

About

CHEMIST by THIX

Experience a virtual chemistry lab with a wide range of equipment, procedures, and chemicals. Safely conduct experiments, explore chemical reactions, and learn through real-time data visualization without any mess or risk.

Highlights
  • Virtual lab equipment and procedures
  • Extensive chemical library (inorganic and organic)
  • Real-time chemical data calculations
  • Safe and mess-free experimentation
  • Interactive tools for temperature, air composition, and time
  • Intuitive user interface
Features
Read full description

It’s your dream virtual chemistry lab. Experiment with various lab equipment, procedures, and chemicals with complete freedom—no need to buy chemicals or clean up afterwards. Perfect for testing, exploring, learning, or just playing around.
 INTERACTION Pour chemicals between beakers; mix them with a glass rod; exam the temperature with a thermometer; or heat chemicals with Bunsen burner as you do in the real life. LAB TOOLS The 17 essential lab apparatuses are not only intuitively easy to use, but can also satisfy all your scientific demanding. CHEMICALS 180 built-in inorganic chemical reagents. 60+ organic chemicals. Covering the materials from kids science class up to college chemistry. SAFETY Chemistry experiment is fun but sometimes not so safe. While in CHEMIST, you can experience chemistry up close without worrying about making a mess or breaking fingers. LEARNING
 CHEMIST calculates all chemical data in the vessel in real-time. So you can see what's going on in your beaker not only visually but also in accurate numbers. TOOLS AND SETTINGS Try 6 handy tools in your experiment with a single tap and drag. Change the lab temperature, set the air composition, or even speed up the time. Visit us: thix.co
 Like us: facebook.com/thixlab 
Follow us: twitter.com/thixlab Comments or Questions support@thixlab.com

Screenshots

The Elements by Theodore Gray4 screens
CHEMIST by THIX4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: The Elements by Theodore Gray at 4.6 against CHEMIST by THIX's 4.0. The Elements by Theodore Gray also leads on review sentiment (73% vs 58%). CHEMIST by THIX's advantage is price ($8.99 vs $9.99) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 17.0). On ratings volume, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

The Elements by Theodore Gray costs $9.99 and CHEMIST by THIX $8.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

The Elements by Theodore Gray holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 123 and 127 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 73% of The Elements by Theodore Gray's written reviews are positive against 58% of CHEMIST by THIX's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

The Elements by Theodore Gray ships an update every 3 months, CHEMIST by THIX every 2 months. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
The Elements by Theodore Gray versus CHEMIST by THIX: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThe Elements by Theodore GrayCHEMIST by THIX
Price$9.99$8.99 — better
Rating4.6 (123 ratings) — better4.0 (127 ratings)
Positive reviews73.1% of reviews — better58.0% of reviews
Number of ratings123127 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.09.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size1.5 GB25 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNatureGuides Ltd.THIX LLC

Customer experience

The Elements by Theodore Gray

All ratings122 ratings
Positive89.3%
Neutral3.3%
Negative7.4%
Written reviews479 reviews
Positive73.1%
Neutral9.6%
Negative17.3%

CHEMIST by THIX

All ratings127 ratings
Positive72.4%
Neutral10.2%
Negative17.3%
Written reviews352 reviews
Positive58.0%
Neutral15.3%
Negative26.7%

Bugs and requests

The Elements by Theodore Gray

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Element descriptions cut off on iPhone 6 Plus
  • Crashes when switching landscape orientations
  • Unable to download app after initial purchase

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add option to disable animations
  • Improve periodic table navigation
  • Include more detailed scientific information
  • Support multiple languages and spellings

CHEMIST by THIX

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

The Elements by Theodore Gray

No in-app purchases

None

CHEMIST by THIX

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is The Elements by Theodore Gray free?
The Elements by Theodore Gray costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is CHEMIST by THIX free?
CHEMIST by THIX costs $8.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, The Elements by Theodore Gray or CHEMIST by THIX?
The Elements by Theodore Gray is rated higher. The Elements by Theodore Gray averages 4.6 out of 5 from 123 ratings, while CHEMIST by THIX averages 4.0 from 127 ratings.
Do The Elements by Theodore Gray or CHEMIST by THIX have ads?
Neither The Elements by Theodore Gray nor CHEMIST by THIX shows ads.
Which is updated more often, The Elements by Theodore Gray or CHEMIST by THIX?
The Elements by Theodore Gray ships an update every 3 months, and CHEMIST by THIX every 2 months. Most recently, The Elements by Theodore Gray was updated on October 24, 2026 and CHEMIST by THIX on October 24, 2026.

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